The global energy sector is undergoing a dramatic transformation, led by trends in digitalisation and centralisation.
The way the world generates, distributes and consumes power is being reshaped by rapid growth in distributed renewable energy; decentralised gas and oil production; innovation in efficiency; and progress in software and analytics. Coupled with the rapid evolution of electric car and battery storage technologies, the scene is set for a digital energy revolution.
This revolution has already wiped tens of billions of dollars off the value of old-world electric utility companies that have been slow to embrace change. That trend is now extending to the oil and gas and mobility sectors. At the same time, billions of dollars of value will be created for companies that embrace change.
energyandcarbon.com is an informal forum for providing strategic, timely insight on the technologies and business models shaping the future of the energy and mobility sector, with the goal of aiding business and political leaders navigate the choppy transition ahead.
Most utilities across North America and Europe are experiencing challenging times thanks to falling wholesale power prices, a tough regulatory environment and decreasing demand for their electricity.
There are five reasons why I think 2019 will become the year of the electric vehicle and why we will look back and say that 2019 was the year when we reached the tipping point: 1. Growing competiti
The coal-heavy strategy at Poland’s biggest utility, PGE, was hit this week by a provisional European Union agreement to end coal power capacity payments from 2025, adding to the utility’s existin
Batteries have become an incredibly important and largely ignored part of our lives; until of course your phone runs out of batteries! Our digital lives would be impossible without batteries which
UK local government pension schemes responsible for more than 5 million public sector workers saw asset values nudge up last year, trailing bumper stock market growth the year before, while some said
The idea of the hydrogen economy goes back to the early 1970s when the scientist John Bockris began promoting the idea of using hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels that could be used for transp
Britain's Drax power plant is one of Europe's biggest coal plants, and it is in the process of converting its boilers to become one of the world's biggest sources of biomass power. These are facts.
The price of lithium has climbed by 130% in recent weeks. Citibank believes demand will be 64% higher in the coming 5 years. Lithium is the ubiquitous energy storage element consumed in ever greater q
We currently consume one thousand barrels of crude oil in each second of every day. It is by far the most important energy source used across the globe. Oil is used for heating, for electricity genera
The world concluded four years of negotiations on Saturday with the first universal agreement on climate change. Nearly 190 countries pledged national climate action, and all countries agreed a global
In theory, solar power has always been the perfect solution to our energy needs. Not only do our lifes and the lifes of nearly all living organisms on our planet depend on the light from the sun for e
New evidence suggests that the value of wind and solar power on German wholesale power markets may decline rapidly in the next five years, potentially inflating the support they receive, and reinforci
2008 was a watershed year for the global economy. At the same time that the market meltdown was happening, the birth of cryptocurrencies brought us Bitcoin, the first of the flood of cryptocurrencies
As is customary, every respected or self-proclaimed expert comes with its predictions for the new year. These predictions are usually for more of the same, more or less. Hence, here are my slightly
2017 proved to be an exciting year in energy but rather than telling you about why the oil price went up and why renewables are booming we decided to put down on paper some interesting statistics and
KPANSHEGU, Ghana - In a remote savannah in northern Ghana, I’m sitting with a chief angry about the lack of lights in his 800-person village. His residents can’t read at night. They have to walk
When is $1 billion not a lot of money? Answer one, when you are trying to save the human species from global self-destruction. Answer two, when it is split 10 ways, and then again 10 ways. In an an
The current energy revolution is resulting in a move away from large traditional generation connected to consumers via the transmission network, to smaller local generation connected to the same distr
New evidence suggests that the value of wind and solar power on German wholesale power markets may decline rapidly in the next five years, potentially inflating the support they receive, and reinforci
We have now being running the Energy and Carbon Blog for a little over a year. We would like to thank all of our readers, and as way to cap off 2015 we include below ten of the most read blogs from th
Last year was an interesting year for energy and climate change! Traded oil and coal prices fell to multi-year lows, while there were record global installations of wind and solar power. On the climat
In these times of fast technology change and increasing competition from China, India and other countries across the world, I am very critical of incumbents and how they deal with the challenges they
Italy is finally coming out of a difficult economic crisis, as are Italy's industrial and business sectors. Now the common challenge is how to become more efficient in order to stay competitive, and "
The standout winning technology from a climate conference in Paris this week may be renewable energy, and in particular solar power, suggests a basic name-check of announcements, pledges and targets.
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has tasked a new body to develop a consistent measure of corporate climate risk, raising the profile of the climate threat to global stability, and perhaps adding m
Being a shareholder in RWE has not been a nice place to be over the last two years with the stock price down circa 60% with the recent share price increase (17% on Tuesday alone) a mere "dead cat’s
TREND 1. : YieldCos and developers are definitely not the magic formula to finance renewable energy. Their business plans are too aggressive for their slim equity base, and they are too much leveraged
I found it quite amusing to hear Peter Terium, the CEO of the German utility RWE say that they needed new capital for growth and that it was very difficult for them to get that capital. I say this bec
A whole host of Pay-as-you-go companies have set out to serve the so-called Base of the Pyramid, or the world's poorest 4bn people. While the name Base of the Pyramid suggests homogeneity and similar
Britain’s withdrawal on Wednesday of £1 billion support for carbon capture and storage (CCS) may end prospects for the technology this decade in Europe. CCS is a barely tested tool which may all
National Grid, the UK listed group which owns and operates natural gas and electrical grid assets in the UK and the US, announced earlier this month its intention to sell a majority stake in its UK na
The UK's Energy Market Reform (EMR) was introduced for two main reasons: concern that inadequate private investment under the liberalized system was eroding the UK’s security of supply, and growing
(this blog was written before the terrible events on Friday; we see that the climate conference will go ahead in Paris, from Nov 30 - Dec 11) Can a UN conference on climate change ever live up to i
RT @gerardfwynn: @RWE_AG claim for compensation under German #coalphaseout defies ma ...
RT @gerardfwynn: #climatechange is driving Central America's migrant caravan, says @ ...
RT @gerardfwynn: Suspension of #UK £3.8 billion #CapacityMarket creates opportunity ...
RT @gerardfwynn: Uruguay nears world leader Denmark's #wind and #solarpower market s ...
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